Lodi district settles sex-abuse lawsuit for $4.75M

LODI, Calif. 
The Lodi Unified School District has agreed to pay $4.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a special-needs girl who was molested by a school bus driver.

The settlement was announced in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Tuesday, when a jury was determining how much the district must pay in damages to the victim, who was 8 years old when she was molested in 2010.

Last week jurors decided the school district was negligent in hiring 61-year-old Richard Evans even though officials knew he had a misdemeanor conviction for having sex with a prostitute in 2000.

Evans was convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting the girl aboard the bus he drove to pick her up. The assault was captured on a surveillance camera on the bus.